Phnom Penh

Well, if the orphan story didn't make you sad enough, I'll try again. Today we were in Phnom Penh and visited the Killing Fields and S21, a detention center where victims were tortured and interrogated before being sent to death at the Killing Fields. I don't have any pictures from this part of the trip, as I felt a little uncomfortable taking pictures where millions died.

S21 looks almost exactly as it did they day it was liberated, including beds and shackles and photos of the victims. There was barbed wire and iron bars covering all the windows. Truly a depressing place that showed how disgusting humans can be to each other.

We decided to lighten the mood by going out to dinner at the riverfront with Ianne's friend Ryan and Jamie's friend Adam. Thanks for a great night guys!

We're off to the beach!

"Open your heart, open your wallet"

A favorite phrase among the Cambodian children trying to get you to buy from them. But in all seriousness, there are a ton of children here who need help. We visited an orphanage in Siem Reap and got a chance to meet the children. These kids are very poor, but seem happy together. And grateful at the chance to play with the new visitors. We spent time listening to them sing songs and played game after game. Anyone who knows me knows I'm not exactly kid-friendly. So being here was a little weird for me, but the kids are so fun and happy, you can't help but fall for them. Mr. Sok, who runs the orphanage showed us the grounds, which include an outdoor "school" room, a kitchen, and the rooms where they sleep. No one has a mattress, let alone their own bed. Take a look at their website, and think about possibly donating to these kids who have so little.

Here's a video of the kids singing for us.

Siem Reap and Angkor Wat - The Temple of all Temples

The past few days have been a blur of travel. February 3 we left Chiang Mai for Siem Reap, Cambodia and basically traveled for 24 hours straight by bus, taxi and tuk-tuk. The border crossing was less than fantastic, and anyone crossing at Poipet, I suggest you go with someone who has done it before.

Arriving in Siem Reap was not as I expected. At first there are a ton of huge fancy hotels. It's not really what I assumed Cambodia to look like. Once you get past those hotels, the town really comes alive. We decided to stay at a guesthouse in the heart of the backpacker area and near the day market. The town of Siem Reap is pretty cute if you take the time to walk around and check things out. The markets are an experience in and of themselves, and we had our first real "local"dining experience at a Khmer restaurant. The beef with pineapple was pretty fantastic.

Our tuk-tuk driver Vanna picked us up for our first day at Angkor Wat and the first temple we saw, Bayon, was stunning. The stone carvings are so intricate, it makes all the glittery wats in Bangkok look tacky. Bayon is famous for its smiling Buddhas covering the outside. To be honest, all the temples became a blur after awhile, and I couldn't name all of them if I tried. What we took from it was the amount of work and dedication the Cambodian people have for their temples. It's impressive.

The last temple we saw the first day was the famous Angkor Wat temple. We also tried to see sunset, but it ended up being underwhelming due to heavy haze. That night for dinner we went out for good old American pizza at Happy Herb's. Supposedly there's a little something ëxtra"in the pizza, but I didn't feel anything.

The next day we woke up at 4:30 am for sunrise over Angkor Wat. Also not super impressive, but I'm surprised we got up for it. Another day of viewing temples in the Angkor Complex followed. Check out my Flickr if you want to see temple pictures. That night we went to Wat Bo area, which has really cute restaurants. We treated ourselves to a fancy dinner ($10 US for each of us - that's spending quite a bit). We're waking up early on Monday for the Superbowl so we headed to bed early again. One of these nights we have to check out the nightlife! We've just been too exhausted every other night.

What Do Tigers Dream Of?

I'm a little behind in my blogging, my apologies. The day after we got back from trekking, we decided to hit up Tiger Kingdom before leaving Chiang Mai. At Tiger Kingdom you can play with baby tigers, medium sized and big tigers. This place is different from other tiger pens in that they are fully aware and are not drugged. Apparently tigers are asleep 18 hours a day, so most of the time they are just sleepy. We decided to go into the baby and medium sized pens because the big tigers were just a little too scary.

The babies were adorable. Little Mimi was the youngest, only 3 months old. She was pretty playful and even bit Kasey. Baby bites don't hurt so she was fine, but I imagine a bite from a medium or big tiger would be a little different. :) After playing with several of the babies, we went to the medium sized tigers. They were still pretty damn huge if you ask me. The handlers had us go up to them from behind and pet them and lay on their backs. It's a must see if you're in Chiang Mai, but pretty pricey at around 840 baht ($28 US). Back to Bangkok before heading over to Cambodia! We're all really excited to get moving again, but it is hard to live out of your pack when you're moving so much. We're anxious for the day we can spend over 3 days in the same town.

Chiang Mai/Pai Trek

The 12 hour bus ride wasn't nearly as bad as we all expected. But what we didn't expect was to be dropped off at 6am in the middle of nowhere, loaded into songthaews, and driven to guesthouses where you have to listen to their trek options before they'll tell you where to go in town. We ended up at Nice Place 2, and after initially feeling not so great about this place, we decided to book at 3 day, 2 night trek and stay at the guesthouse. I'm glad we did because other people went into town and this seemed to be one of the better places to stay. It has a pool and everything! For 63 US (1900 Baht) we got our trek, food, elephant ride, bamboo rafting, and a free night at the guesthouse. US money really goes far here.

Chiang Mai is very laid back. Especially coming from Bangkok. It's a great little town with a ton of coffee shops, little restaurants and shops. They have a Sunday market that is enormous. We got lost for awhile there.

Our trek took off for Pai (about 2 hours north of Chiang Mai - we were assured it was not touristy and we would be alone) with 14 people packed into a songthaew. After a few hours we reached the village of Lisu, where we got to visit a school and meet the children. They come up to you and ask "Hello what is your name?" and move on down the line asking everyone. Very adorable. Then we took a 45 minute trek through the forest to the hilltribe village of Lahu. The children from the first village sang and danced for us. We all slept in one big room on a bamboo floor and it got VERY cold at night.

The second morning our group split off and 6 of us continued on the 3 day/2 night path. The 2 hour morning hike went through very steep up and downhill mountain passes. It was hot and we were all huffing and puffing, carrying our small packs. Our guides were doing the hike in flip flops! We played in a waterfall for awhile, ate lunch and continued on our way until we made it to the Elephant camp. This was truly crazy. Ianne and I rode "Papa" (we named them), who carried us through the forest and took us for a wild ride. He liked to climb up the mountain to eat bamboo trees and would often take us through the trees to get to the best ones. We were pretty scratched up. Jamie and Kasey rode "Phyllis", the mama, who had her baby elephant "Ross" following her. We were a little scared at first but this was probably the best part of the trek.

After the elephants we hiked to the Karen hilltribe where we ate dinner and played games with our guides "Beckham" and "Tom Cruise". Talk about some crazy Thais. Crazy but fun. They decorated us with charcoal when we lost the games. It was a pretty fun night. The last day we hiked to a river and rode bamboo rafts. Jamie and Tom Cruise piloted one raft, and two of the guys from the trek took the other. By the end we were exhaused but had such an amazing time.

A Quick Stop for Fertility Prayers

Before we left for Chiang Mai we decided to seek out a small shrine we'd read about. At the Nai Lert Park Hotel, if you walk to the far corner of the parking garage, you come across a fertility shrine. Hundreds of penises of varying sizes sit in a little garden and you can say a prayer and light incense sticks to wish for a baby. We prayed for friends and family (NOT ourselves) and if they get a baby, the mother has to come back with an offering. For lunch we decided to hit up Cabbages and Condoms, just in case the gods got confused and thought maybe one of us wanted a baby. The proceeds from this restaurant go to the Public Health and Population Control Center, and they give you condoms instead of mints when you pay. It's pretty touristy, but cute. Off for a 12 hour bus ride!